Rhapsody on a Theme of Diana
by StMomo
Summary: "Music is your soul, your being that tells your life and expresses your feelings". A series of connecting drabbles based in the Marauders era, based on the Symphonic Themes challenge by Celmisia on Luna. Gift-fic for Ailidh. Pairing OCxSirius.
1. A Tempo

_A/N: This proves once again that I should not be writing OC's. Please note that this is a gift-fic for Ailidh, based on her OC Diana and will thus have inside jokes and such. The chapters go in no particular order. I hope you enjoy, dear.  


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**A Tempo : ****_a directive to return to the original tempo after a deliberate deviation_**

Life at Hogwarts was never normal. It was definitely even more abnormal when your friends were the infamous 'Marauders' and you, yourself, were a Marauder. But then, that was just the way Diana liked it. At least life was never boring that way and Diana being Diana, boring _was _the ninth circle of hell for her.

The last month had definitely been anything but boring. The storm they'd weathered (and just barely survived, though Diana would never voice that truth) from Remus' latest change, all the hoopla that had happened between her and Sirius – yes, they'd definitely had an interesting month. But now, as she glanced around at all her friends goofing off and just generally being themselves and felt the warmth of Sirius' slightly sweaty palm in her own, she was starting to think that these periods of normalcy weren't quite as bad as she'd always thought they were.


	2. Accelerando

**Accelerando : **_Gradually accelerating or getting faster_

Diana was strong, unshakeable. Her heart beat a pounding rhythm, undisturbed, like the thrumming back beat of a heavy metal song. She wasn't easily scared; frights that would give most people reason to have a heart attack barely made her heart skip a beat. Through whatever, that throbbing, pulsating rhythm never ceased, never altered.

So what the hell was going on now? Why was her heart going crazy, the rhythm shifting infinitely, speeding up faster and faster as though she was running a marathon? And why, most of all, was it happening every time she saw him, touched him, brushed against him accidentally?

Sirius was just a friend. Simply a fellow Marauder. That was all.

_Right?_


	3. Adagio

**Adagio :**_ a slow tempo_

This was England; rain was to be expected. Gray skies were not abnormal. Usually, Diana took no notice of them besides to sigh and moan a bit about all the fun they kept her from doing. But today, fun was the last thing on her mind and the gray, rainy weather seemed all too fitting. She hadn't left the dorm at all today, not even to go down to breakfast. Artie had had to bring a thermos filled with coffee, the one thing Diana actually couldn't get by without, up to the dorm as Diana had no urge to have to sit down there in the Great Hall and be subjected to watching _that._

No, she was just fine curled up in the dorm, sitting up on the window-seat with her head against the cool window, watching the rain lash down. There'd been a couple stray tears that were brushed away automatically. Big girls did not cry, especially not over arrogant, priggish jerks like Sirius Black after all. Especially not over the fact that he started dating pretty, perfect Mary who she'd always disliked right after finding out how Diana felt about him.

Yeah, she could keep telling herself that, she thought. Too bad it didn't make it any more true. Truth was, she was heart-broken and she'd been crying lots, usually on Artemis' always-there shoulders. The girl was way too good to her at times, she thought.

As the wind picked up, whistling past the window and swirling through every crevice it could find, she shook her head as tears slipped down. Even the wind was mourning for her too, it seemed, for it sounded like a melody as it blew.

And what melody was that?

_Why, an adagio for her broken heart._


	4. Ancora

**Ancora : **_again, as a request to repeat a performance_

A truly perfect moment. Not too many people get to experience that. She figured someone up there was smiling down on her though and wisely chose not to complain. His hands fit her hips perfectly, fingers brushing tiny circles. His body was warm; he was a veritable furnace and his heat seeped into her as their bodies pressed so close together you couldn't have fit a quill tip in between them. But most of all, most perfect of all was the way his lips felt against hers. Man, and she'd thought McLaggen could kiss. He had nothing on Sirius though. This kiss flooded her brain, set her body on fire from the roots of her hair down to the barest nerve in each of her tiny toes. It was miraculously perfect.

And then…

"Ancora, ancora!" rang out through the common room, chorused by four well-known voices. The two separated long enough to turn smiling faces in the direction of the chorus, laughing at the clapping, whistling and cheering of Artie, Peter, James and Remus. Of course, they had nothing to do but oblige to the request.

Yes, Diana thought as she returned Sirius' kiss, you knew a perfect moment was truly perfect when not even your spying, cornball friends seemed like gifts from god.


	5. acompagnato

**Acompagnato : **_accompanied; also a recitative that is accompanied by an orchestra_

'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.'

A biblical scripture that somehow worked itself into the common vernacular as 'pride goes before the fall'. Diana had heard both, the biblical version from her Muggle mother and the everyday expression from…well, just everyday people. She never given much thought to it before though, always shrugged it off as just one of those fortune cookie proverbs that sounded nice and had next to no meaning.

Now though, now she was finally beginning to really understand what it meant. It had been a week now and things were only falling apart faster and faster between her and Sirius. He had his little thing with snotty Mary and she was trying to make him jealous with McLaggen. The two rarely spoke and when they did, it was clipped and usually rude. They both knew the problem and how easily it could be solved. It was just their damn pride that was getting in the way – neither one wanted to fold first.

Always that damned pride.


	6. Agitado

**Agitado : **_agitated or restless_

Diana had always been rather popular with the boys and she'd always loved playing on that. Nothing was ever serious to the outgoing, flirtatious Marauder. Most definitely not boys, at least. They were good and all, fun for a bit but she had never been after something serious. She wasn't after falling in love, not yet. But things never seem to happen when you want them to and that's exactly how Diana found herself – flat out in love. With Sirius Black of all people!

Needless to say, she didn't like this newest development one bit. She couldn't sleep, couldn't relax, couldn't do anything without thinking about him. She was self-conscious all of a sudden, restless, moody. Nothing was the same.

No, she didn't like this one bit and she damn well wasn't going to tolerate it!

_Yeah, girl, you just keep on telling yourself that,_ her inner voice crooned.


	7. Beat

**Beat : **_regular pulsation; a basic unit of length in musical time_

She'd come to accept it. She couldn't be so blind for too long, not even if she wanted to. She liked him, liked one of her closest friends. She'd already figured out that and already knew it wasn't going to change anytime soon. She also knew, without having to think too hard about it, that there was nothing that could be done about it.

For people as different as they all were, the Marauder's were all too similar. They kept the same beat, made a beautiful harmony, kept an internal song that never went sour or hit wrong notes.

For someone like her, that beat couldn't be broken. She couldn't disrupt all their lives with something like this.


	8. Cantabile

**Cantabile :**_ songful or singing style_

Diana had a secret and goddamn it all if not knowing what it was wasn't driving him absolutely insane. She'd told Artemis what it was, he knew that but she wasn't spilling it. She hadn't told any of the boys though which meant that it had to be one hell of a juicy secret. He wanted to know what it was all the more because of that.

Breaking Artemis down enough to worm the secret out of her had proven to be near impossible though and Remus had just plain-out refused to be involved in any more of Sirius' 'spy scheme's' on this though so he had no help on that front. Everyone knew that Diana was smart enough not to tell James anything she didn't want Sirius to know about so sending James in to find out what was up wouldn't work. That left only one option – Peter. Convincing his smaller, weaker friend to worm that secret out of Diana and tell it to Sirius had been no sweat and Pete was small and unintimidating. He seemed all too innocent and trust-worthy (which was actually a skill that came in handy for getting himself, and the other Marauders, out of scrapes) and no one thought twice about confiding in him.

Yep, it was pretty much a guarantee that Peter could get Diana to sing like a stoolpigeon. And belt it out she did because by the end of the night, Sirius knew the secret he'd been dying to know. Too bad he hadn't expected this of all things and had no idea what to do about it.

'_Bloody hell, mate, how'd you get so lucky? She's head-over-heels for you!'_


	9. Con Amore

**Con Amore :**_ with love_

'_First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a carriage!'_

Such an annoying little children's rhyme. Really, whoever had first thought it up deserved a particularly nasty hex put upon them – maybe never-ending crotch rot, if there was a spell for such a thing. She wasn't even sure how the rhyme had come to mind in the first place but come to mind it had and worse yet, it had stuck there, repeating in a sing-song, never-ending loop.

Even worse was the fact that it had thrown the rest of her thoughts for a loop as well. Her and Sirius weren't fully made up, not yet, but they were slowly warming to the thought of romance between them. She was in love and now he'd accepted he was to – they just hadn't both said it yet.

As if that wasn't stressful enough, now she had thoughts of marrying the man and popping out pretty little Black heirs.

Come to think of it, maybe that crotch-rot spell would be better sent his way. Sure as hell would make those thoughts null and void, Diana thought mischievously already turning in the direction of the library.


	10. Crescendo

**Crescendo : **_gradually getting louder_

"…SO INFURIATING!"

"AT LEAST I'M NOT THE BENEDICT ARNOLD SPREADING MY LEGS OPEN FOR SOME FILTHY SLYTHERIN!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!"

Outside the deserted classroom Diana and Sirius were currently cooped up in (thanks to a large amount of manipulation by their well-meaning friends), Remus, James, Peter and Artemis huddled close to the door, throwing each other looks of mingled exasperation and nervousness. It had been an hour since they'd shut, and locked, those two in together. At first, they'd had to press their ears right against the door to hear anything. But things had grown louder and louder until they suspected the two could be heard everywhere in Hogwarts, culminating in now when the screaming and sounds of loud cracks and things being thrown were at their loudest.

"So…" Artemis ventured a bit hesitantly. "Do you think we should…y'know…go on in and interrupt?

Remus and Peter just looked at her as if she had suggested drinking a bowl of poisoned Butterbear and committing mass suicide. James, though, just smiled and waved a hand in an airy gesture.

"Nah, I think things are going…" He paused as the sound of something heavy and most likely made of glass was heard hitting the door with extreme force. "_Swimmingly."_


	11. Diminuendo

**Diminuendo : **_getting softer_

She heard him approach, steps loud in the quiet library but she paid him no notice. Her eyes stared blindly down at the book in front of her. In truth, she'd been working on the one page of that book for the last fifteen minutes or so, her troubled mind doing nothing more than recognizing scattered words here and there. In truth, as he sat down beside her, her mind stopped recognizing even those spare words. It didn't, in fact, pick up the fact there was even a book in front of her all that much. She just knew that if she kept her eyes down and pretended to be all-absorbed in whatever was in front of her, it gave her a wonderful excuse to not have to turn around, to neither look at him nor admit that he was even there.

An awkward silence held tense in the cavernous library for what seemed like an eternity. He attempted to change this, shifting around impatiently and clearing his throat several times, almost as if to say '_hey, Diana, I'm right here, you know?'_

She caught each sound he made, noticed each shifting movement in her peripheral vision yet she pretended still that he wasn't even there. He'd go away eventually, after all.

And she was right on that. After all, there's only so long someone can sit, waiting for another person to come around to them. With a muffled swear, she heard his chair scrape back with great force before toppling to the floor.

"I wasn't the only one wrong here, you know?" he muttered. "I was just the only one willing to say sorry. Come find me when you feel like not being an arse-wipe."

Diana just stared at the book still, her jaw clenching as she tried to keep the tears welling up in her eyes from falling. How dare he? He'd been the one to behave like an arse-wipe this whole time. Breaking her heart, romping around with that bitch, Mary, and then behaving like a jealous brat when she decided to date someone. Why the hell would she ever want to talk to him again? But as she heard his steps fade away, becoming softer and softer before fading into nonexistence, she had to wonder briefly if maybe, just maybe, she should've turned around.


	12. Dolce

**Dolce :**_ sweetly_

Fists clenched, Diana marched down the crowded hallway. She knew what she had to do and she was going to do it right, no matter how much she wanted to turn tail and run the opposite way. Two steps forward turned into twelve, then twenty and then she saw him, clustered in a group with Remus and James.

Sighing and steeling herself for the inevitable sharp, rude remark that she no doubt deserved, she walked up and tapped Sirius on the shoulder. Even as he swung around to face her, he was opening his mouth to say something, no doubt smarmy. Not that he ever got the chance. Quickly and boldly, Diana captured his mouth in a quick, unexpected kiss. Remus and James gawped, as did Sirius when Diana pulled back.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "About everything."

With that said, and cheeks bright red from embarrassment, she turned around and quickly started to walk away.

"That's alright!" she heard him shout after it. "IT'S FINE, REALLY!"

With a throaty laugh and her embarrassment subsiding, she headed off to Herbology with a skip in her step, reflecting on just how nice that had felt, kissing him and on just how sweet those two words really were – _that's alright_. No, she doubted there were two such sweet words in the English language than those.


	13. Espressivo

**Espressivo : **_expressively_

Well, she _had _wanted to make him jealous, hadn't she? And she thought she was doing pretty well – hooking up with the Slytherin Quidditch captain, McLaggen had been a good plan, hadn't it? The look on everyone's face's and especially on his when she walked arm in arm with him or when they kissed…her plan had worked, hadn't it?

She caught the way he left the area they were in every time she and McLaggen were around and acting all lovey-dovey. She caught the way he was shrugging off Mary more and more, almost as if he had lost all interest in the other girl because of his anger that he wasn't the one with Diana. She caught it every time, that flash of jealousy, anger and disgust on Sirius' face whenever she was with McLaggen.

Her plan had worked.

So why did she feel so guilty? Why did his face – that beautiful face of his stamped with such a horrid expression – haunt her?

_Why?_


	14. Forte

**Forte : **_loud_

If Diana could be accused of anything, being overly-quiet and withdrawn was not it. Being a chatterbox, most certainly. Being overly-loud and sometimes disruptive, sure. Quiet, though, most definitely not. So it was no surprise to anyone that, when she finally worked up the nerve to say the words she'd only thought up to that point, she did it in her own bright, quirky and loud way.

"OI BLACK!" she screamed from her dorm window to the grounds below, where said boy was waiting for her. "I LOVE YOU, OKAY!"

Thankfully for her (or maybe not), she was in love with a man who could match her, and sometimes out-do her, in the loudness department.

"YEAH, ME TOO!" came the answering bellow.

And in the immediate vicinity (note, the nearest twenty yards), most people smiled, aww'ed, or just plain out rubbed their aching ears. Loudness was most definitely cute only to those two, it seemed.


	15. Grave

**Grave : **_solemn; very, very slow_

Living at Hogwarts, it was easy to pretend life was idyllic. Sure, there was always drama going on but in its own way, Hogwarts was just another Stepford, another Pleasantville where it was easy to pretend that nothing really _wrong_ ever happened. But there were times when that wonderful illusion fell away and the troubles got in. Like the Wednesday in October when the Sloane twins were called out of Potions class and told that their parents were dead, murdered. They never came back to class…or Hogwarts for that matter.

Living in Hogwarts, it was easy to pretend that things were hunky-dory. It was easy to pretend there was no such thing as troubles or war. But everyone knew there was one, slowly brewing, slowly moving towards them. The illusion that Hogwarts gave them of safety, safety from the war they were sure couldn't touch them in these seemingly hallowed halls was just that, an illusion.

They all knew the war was coming. It loomed over them in times of disquiet, of troubles and darkness. It was coming, slowly but surely and it was big and frightening. They all knew that, when push came to shove, without being asked, they'd all step forward and do their parts. Sirius, Remus, and James were hell-bent on joining the order the very moment they turned of age. Even Lily and Artemis, Muggle-born though they were, in greater danger than pure-blooded James or Sirius, were quick to want to join the Order. Even little Peter, poor, cowardly little Peter, was willing to step up and do what he could, whenever he could, or so he said.

Diana was brave – not too much frightened her. And she knew that, come hell or high water, when time came, she'd be joining the Order as well. But there were times, when she was troubled, late at night alone in the dark, when she had to wonder : if – no, _when_ – they joined the Order…James, Lily, Remus, Artemis, Peter, her, and most especially him, Sirius…_which of them would be the first to die?_


	16. Harmony

**Harmony : **_relationship between intervals and chords_

If the first soft, whispery notes of an orchestra were like the first few blossoms of spring dancing in a warm breeze, so were they. And that wind had blown them all together, put them all on the same current. She wasn't sure anymore whether it had been her compartment they'd come in or if she'd gone into theirs or where it had gone from there but somewhere along that first train-ride, all six of them had bumped into each other. And it had only grown from there, like the way a few notes lead to a few more and then a few more until a song is formed. Sure, there were off-notes, notes that didn't synch with the over-all harmony, but even the most skilled of performers hit a wrong note or two in their life-times. It's just chalked up to practicing and becoming better and so was their friendship, which only grew stronger from those wrong notes and missed cues. Because they were all notes, intervals, chords and wisps of song that when played just the right way formed the most beautiful song of all – _friendship._


	17. Key

**Key : **_defines the relationship of tones with a common center_

It was the key to their relationship – they never expected too much from each other, they allowed each other to be free and rarely troubled themselves with burdens or responsibilities. They never pushed the others to be this or do that. Sure, they might prod a bit to get the more serious of their group, like Artie and Remus, to have a little fun – and by that, they definitely meant 'engage in some totally against the rules mischief'. But they never pressured the others into anything they weren't ready for or willing to do.

So she couldn't do this – Sirius wasn't ready for a relationship, not the type she wanted with him. She couldn't do it; she couldn't pressure him. It was better, or so she thought at the time, to suffer, like Artemis did in her unrequited crush on Remus, silently than to break that key to pieces and disrupt the harmony.


	18. Misterioso

**Misterioso : **_mysteriously_

Relationships never come exactly when you want them to. Nor do they happen overnight. They're more like plants, flowers, growing vines. Their processes are mysterious to say the least. You never know when you plant a seed, how long it will take to grow or if it even will. You never see the little roots that take hold, never see them grow and strengthen themselves until the moment when the first bud appears, brilliantly green and wonderfully alive. So it is with relationships – they didn't know when she first felt it or when he first felt it. They didn't see it develop during conversations, didn't see it in the little moments, didn't fully realize it until it was there, until it sprung to life, all new and beautifully alive.


	19. Mute

**Mute : **_mechanical device used to muffle the sound of an instrument_

It was the inevitability of all who called themselves Marauders. They broke rules, they pulled pranks, they had fun. But they also broke laws – one law in particular. They broke it for a friend and they had fun breaking it. But a werewolf wasn't always so tame, even around animals. Scratches, bruises, bumps. All these things equaled one thing – pain. They'd survive the change and they'd laugh about it after it happened like it was all one big adventure. They'd stifle their groans and moans of pain and just wouldn't talk about it. Some things were just better to mute, after all.


	20. Non Troppo

**Non Troppo : **_not too much_

It was a good thing that neither went into the relationship with too much in the way of expectations. Neither expected the other to be perfect – they'd known each other too long for that. They expected no sweeping gestures or romantic fantasies. Neither one was exactly a die-hard romantic.

It wasn't a fairy-tale love story. There was fighting, god was there ever. There were times when they came close to just calling it off, times when they wouldn't speak to each other for days. There were times when both of them wished the other was different in some way. Times when Sirius acted insensitively and Diana couldn't help but cry into her pillow at night. There were times when Diana's flirting grated on Sirius' ever-possessive nerves and he had to leave wherever she was to go hit something – **hard.**

Most people had placed bets during the first couple weeks of their relationship, bets on how long they'd last. The highest one was two months. Frankly, most everyone around them was amazed as one, two, five months came and went. Their relationship was full of up's and down's, that was true. But there were times when they just walked along, talking and laughing and delighting in the feel of their entwined fingers. There were times when Diana would awake to find Sirius' sweater thrown over her sleeping form or Sirius would find some little love note stuck into one of his books.

They might not have grand romance but the everyday little things were so much sweeter anyhow.


	21. Pitch

**Pitch : **_highness or lowness of a tone_

She'd dated a few guys over the years before she'd ever become involved with him. And she wasn't at all ashamed to admit that she wasn't no shrinking violet, she wasn't no nun. She'd kissed, perhaps even a little more if she felt like it and everything was right. But no other man had ever been able to do the things he did to her even with the simplest of actions.

A stray lock of hair floating across her cheek as he whispered in her ear always drew an unconsciously taken sharp breath. The sweep of a hand up a thigh was enough to elicit a breathy moan. Kisses drew gasps and roaming hands gained cries for more.

He relished in it all, always anxious to hear what new sounds she'd make, what new direction her voice would turn in. And the best thing about her, he'd decided long ago, was that she was never shy about giving it all back to him.


	22. Repetition

**Repetition : **_fixes the musical material in our mind and satisfies our need for the familiar; it provides unity to a form_

The first year warranted a meeting and started a friendship. Second year had cemented it. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh – so much time had passed without them even realizing it. Maybe that's why time was considered such a funny and mysterious thing, because it could pass and flow without a person even realizing it. Minutes turned into hours, hours into days, days into months, months into years before a person even realized it. And through it all, things changed without anyone even noticing. Nobody noticed, Diana thought as she headed down to the Great Hall for the very last time, graduation looming ahead of her, because so much also stayed the same and that sameness clouded over the changes until what had changed – relationships that had came about, friendships that had become more, friendships that had gone sour and were no more – just became more of the same.


	23. Rhythm

**Rhythm : **_the controlled movement of music in time_

Maybe that cheesy old adage is true – maybe people really do come into your life at a certain time for a certain reason. Maybe life really does send us things at times for reasons and maybe there is a road-map of each person's life all laid out. It would certainly make sense, mused Diana as she considered the last seven years of her life. People had come into her life and gone out of it with ease, all of them imparting their own lessons. And then there were others who'd come into her life to stay. If her life had a rhythm, a melody, then their melodies enhanced her, pushed it to new crescendos, moved it forward into new movements. They'd become a part of her indefinitely and instead of simple lessons, they'd taught her whole classes on things no school would teach.

Friends – they are truly the family you choose.


	24. Ritornando

**Ritornando : **_holding back, getting slower_

She'd never know the amount of times he held back. Arguments weren't uncommon in their relationship and they were always quite brutal. She'd never know the things he kept himself from saying though, the things he'd never say to keep from hurting her. She'd never know how he held himself back from hitting her, from just calling this whole stupid thing off. He wouldn't hurt her, no matter how much he wanted to at times, because that's what love was. You held things back to keep from hurting someone else because you loved them enough to realize that sometimes your feelings weren't all that important next to theirs.

He'd never know the amount of tears she shed because of him. She always hid them away, never let him hear them. Knowing he'd made her cry would only make him guilty and sad and she didn't want that for him. She didn't want to cause him any pain. He'd never know the amount of times she had wanted to scream and cry and beg him not to do some stupid stunt he'd gotten into his head. But she'd never asked him not to do anything, not because she didn't think he'd stop if she asked, but because she realized that loving someone means letting them make their own mistakes sometimes.

Really, sometimes that was all love bubbled down to – holding yourself back to let the other person run free.


	25. Style

**Style : **_characteristic manner of presentation of musical elements_

The Marauder's – by the end of Diana's second year, everybody in the school knew who they were, the grouping of six mischievous, wild students who always had something on the go. James Potter, newly found star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, with a cocksure smile and a confident and friendly manner. Handsome Sirius Black, pined over by plenty of girls not only in his year and house but from all the school, who always had some half-brained scheme up his sleeve. Remus Lupin, considered the smartest of the grouping and one of the smartest of his year and house, who always had a friendly smile and a kind manner with (most) people. Little Peter Pettigrew, who wasn't exceptionally talented or charismatic, a lucky every-guy who'd managed to get popular by association. Diana Morrison, beautiful and talented, always laughing and reckless. Artemis Reid, who was quiet and mysterious and all but unapproachable.

Many wondered over the years what brought those six together and farther-more (particularly on the part of several exasperated teachers) how they'd ever managed to make it through seven years of school without killing themselves. Or getting expelled, though they'd come close to that last one a few times.

The simple truth was this – _they just had enough style and arrogance to not care about silly little things like that._


	26. Tutti

**Tutti : **_All_

It seemed impossible, stupid, silly that despite them all being such good friends, they'd last seen each other at Harry's first birthday. The last of July – two months passed without them all gathering. They were all busy, of course. They all had jobs and lives and such and their schedules had never matched up well enough for all of them to get together. And then towards the end, with the Fidelius charm…

What was even more impossible to believe, so fucking impossible to believe, thought Diana as she looked through old photographs, was that they'd never, ever be all together again. Tears dropped and splattered over cellophane covered pages of photographs.

James and Lily gone? Impossible. Just…

_Impossible._


	27. Virtuoso

**Virtuoso : **_performer of extraordinary technical ability_

Once upon a time, in a lonely train compartment, six people had somehow stumbled upon one another. Through the years, they formed a bond of unbreakable friendship. It had survived through the years and only grown stronger. Or so they thought then.

The years had dwindled the numbers down – first to five, though nobody knew it. Peter was the first to leave, the first to duck out of the friendship. The fear of wartime was too much for him and he'd rather power and protection than friendship.

Then the numbers fell to four – James murdered along with his wife and son. He'd been a friend to the bitter end.

Three – Artemis checked herself a one-way ticket into Saint Mungo's, completely unconscious to the outer world. Reality had become too much and she'd just opted out of it. Maybe that was a good thing though, maybe she was better off that way, reliving old glory years in her head. Who knew, really?

Two – Sirius locked up in Azkaban. Even when he wasn't in there, he hadn't been able to live, had never been the same. But in the end, he'd left the friendship the same way James had – through death.

One – Remus, dead like James and Sirius, leaving behind his young son.

One- Diana still stood. She'd triumphed through two wars, stood through countless deaths of friends and comrades. She was a great witch, a strong person, that was what people said.

So why was it that she had the feeling the others had been the lucky ones?


End file.
